Autonomy and Task Performance: Explaining the Impact of Grades on Intrinsic Motivation

• Published in: Journal of educational psychology Vol. 105; no. 1; pp. 39 - 57
• Main Authors: Pulfrey, Caroline, Darnon, Céline, Butera, Fabrizio
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Washington, DC American Psychological Association 01-02-2013
• Subjects: Academic Achievement; Age Groups; Autonomy; Biological and medical sciences; Comparative Analysis; Correlation; Educational psychology; Effect Size; Evaluation; Experiments; Feedback (Response); Female; Foreign Countries; Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology; Grades (Scholastic); Human; Independence (Personality); Intrinsic Motivation; Male; Motivation; Psychology. Psychoanalysis. Psychiatry; Psychology. Psychophysiology; Pupil and student. Academic achievement and failure; Scores; Self Determination; Student Attitudes; Student Motivation; Switzerland; Visual task performance; Switzerland; autonomy; intrinsic motivation; grades; self-determination; task performance; Human; Academic achievement; Secondary education; Token reinforcement; School environment; Self-determination; Motivation; Adolescent; Autonomy; Reward; Performance
• ISSN: 0022-0663; 1939-2176
• DOI: 10.1037/a0029376

The use of grades to motivate constitutes an unresolved theoretical controversy. In 2 experiments carried out with different age groups and academic tracks, a standard-grade condition was compared with a condition in which differential scoring engendered higher grades and with a no-grade condition. The relative power of task performance and task autonomy to explain differences in subsequent intrinsic motivation (self-report task interest and continuing motivation for the task) was assessed. Results show that, compared with the standard-grade condition, both high-grade and no-grade conditions enhanced the 2 forms of subsequent intrinsic motivation. However, although task performance explained higher levels of task interest in the high-grade condition, it failed to explain higher levels of continuing motivation for the task. Task autonomy, conversely, explained the higher levels of both task interest and continuing motivation for the task experienced in the nongraded condition. Results are discussed in the light of an integrative model that differentiates the mediational role of task performance and autonomy, 2 traditional major explanations of the link between grades and intrinsic motivation.